Daily news

A few days ago, I noticed that people were sharing around my blog post “Muslim, queer, feminist: it’s as complicated as it sounds” without including my Twitter username. Not a huge deal – they were linking back to my blog, so I was still getting clicks and page views out of it – but it was a little disconcerting (not bad, just disconcerting) to realise that my work was being shared around by people who didn’t even know me and therefore couldn’t directly credit me as the creator.

People keep telling me this is a consequence of “fame” (I wasn’t even aware that I was famous!) – that people will share your work without letting you know about it. I suppose I can live with that, as long as people aren’t just copy-pasting words of mine without any kind of course or attribution…

“Back when Lawrence H. Summers was president of Harvard and suggested that they did, the reaction was swift and merciless. Pundits branded him sexist. Faculty members deemed him a troglodyte. Alumni withheld donations.

“But when Bruce Jenner said much the same thing in an April interview with Diane Sawyer, he was lionized for his bravery, even for his progressivism.”

In so doing, she holds up the perspective of the once-president of arguably the most elite university in the world next to the perspective of an olympic athlete and reality television star, as discursively comparable units, as though the two perspectives bare the same weight on feminist debate, gender politics, or the real lives of women. This is her second mistake. Her first was the mis-gendering of Caitlyn.

The New Moon is marked every month on my calendar. As it gets closer I start watching the weather service map, looking for where there will be clear skies. Last month was a complete dud, the 5-night window only saw overcast and rain.

But this weekend the sky was clear. I had three people sign up for my Night Sky Photo Tour on Saturday night.

Officially the New Moon is tonight, June 16th, but if you are close, one or two days plus or minus, you will get the lighting you want.

Camped under the Milky Way

This first shot I have been dreaming of for some time. My son is 10 years old and he likes to go camping with his friends, swimming and being goof balls. Of course they always bring their electronic devices. I made sure to tell them to save some battery life for dark.

There was no shortage of people watching the Chicago Blackhawks win their third Stanley Cup championship in six years last night. Monday’s game drew a 5.6 overnight rating, which is the third highest mark for a Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final since 1995, per NBC Sports PR. It’s also the fourth-best overnight rating ever for an NHL contest.

The Chicago market topped the list with a record-setting 41.0 household rating. Tampa Bay came in second with a 15.2 household rating. Buffalo (10.5), Milwaukee (7.9), and Denver (7.6) rounded out the top five.

Anxiety is a problem that we all experience at some point in our lives for one reason or another. Whether it’s your financial stresses causing you concern or you experience a degree of social anxiety in certain situations, it can cause much bigger problems for you to deal with. When anxiety sets in, it can disrupt no end of things – your sleeping pattern, your diet, even the way you communicate with others as you are put on edge.

Overcoming anxiety can be complex and of course varies depending on the reasons for it and the severity of it. There are some fantastic herbal remedies that can help to alleviate the symptoms but, as with most things, prevention is always better than the cure. Yoga can be such an effective weapon against anxiety that it’s surprising that it is not prescribed long before the doctor reaches for the pills.

Summer is in full swing up here in North Dakota. School’s out. Wedding’s have begun. Garden’s are in and a full line up of summer fairs and festivals are marked down on the calendar.

Last weekend during a little tour across the state promoting my album, I got the privilege of being a guest of honor at a small town in the middle of the state. I was hired to do a concert with the band there during their Dairy and Ag days celebration,

and in addition, I was asked to be the Grand Marshall of the parade…

I took my job very seriously…

AND to help judge the Little Miss Farmer/Rancher contest.

This was right up my ally, such and honor and pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

So of course I had some things to say about it. I could have written a book on all of…